[HanCinema's Box Office Review] 2017.08.25 - 2017.08.27

Local hits "V.I.P", "A Taxi Driver" and "Midnight Runners" secure 67% of the sales...

The highest grossing film of the year -- Jang Hoon's "A Taxi Driver" (Song Kang-ho) -- was denied a fourth weekend as number one due to the arrival Park Hoon-jung's "V.I.P". Park's film (his fourth after "The Showdown", "The New World", and "The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale") stars Jang Dong-gun, Kim Myung-min, Park Hee-soon and Lee Jong-suk and tells the story of a North Korean killer on the run from both Koreas and Interpol. It was a close race, but Park's new crime thriller disrupted "A Taxi Driver"'s fine run by scoring 598,715 admissions (25.09%), or $4.5 million, during its opening weekend.

Advertisement

"A Taxi Driver", which based on the real-life story of an unnamed hero who escorted a German journalist around during the infamous May 18th Democratic Uprising, added 527,266 admissions (21.35%) and moved its total tally to 11.3 million, or $80 million. In addition to being the most successful film of the year (ahead of "Confidential Assignment"'s 7.8 million admissions), Jang's historical drama is on the verge of becoming one of Korea's top ten films of all time; the film now needs just 200,000 stubs to surpass "The Attorney" (2013), which also stars the prolific and popular Song Kang-ho.

The action comedy "Midnight Runners" by director Kim Joo-hwan, his second film after "Koala" (2013), came close to overtaking "A Taxi Driver" having spent the past three weeks behind Jang's 11-million-admissions hit. From 779 screens, down from 918, "Midnight Runners" claimed 20.76% of the sales (514,862 admissions), moving its bottom line to $34.08 million (4.8 million admissions: currently the seventh highest-grossing film of the year).

Huh Jung's "The Mimic" moved up to fourth with 240,791 admissions (9.56%), pushing it over the million admissions mark, and the third installment in the "Planet of the Apes" films, Matt Reeves' "War for the Planet of the Apes", fell two places to fifth with 202,545 (8.34%). The American supernatural horror "Annabelle: Creation" by David F. Sandberg was next. The film (the fourth feature in "The Conjuring" series) was produced for $15 million and has grossed $215.1 million worldwide; in Korea, Sandberg's sequel to the 2014 film "Annabelle" added 62,969 (2.61%) during its third weekend out. Since its released on August 10, the film has grossed $13.6 million (1.8 million admissions).

The first film based on American writer Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" universe (starring Idris Elba as the gunslinger in this fantasy western) arrived last Wednesday to 462 screens and banked $384,957 (2.12%) during its first weekend, followed by Choi Seungho's documentary "Criminal Conspiracy" with 42,978 (1.8%). Seungho's nonfiction film about the history and future of Korea's public broadcasting has now passed the million dollar mark with a total admissions count of 149,348. The animation "Despicable Me 3" added 29,693 admissions (1.11%), and the final place in went to Kim Jong-kwan's "The Table", a new local entry, with 24,622 (1%).

Korean Box Office - Admissions for the Weekend 2017.08.25 - 2017.08.27 (www.kobis.or.kr)

- Christopher Wheeler